Analytical Note, October 2009

This Analytical Note updates a 2006 South Centre Analytical Note (SC/AN/TDP/SV/11) ‘The Development Dimension of the GATS Domestic Regulation Negotiations’, which discusses the implications of the GATS Article VI: 4 disciplines on domestic regulation for developing countries.

The aspects that are most problematic in the domestic regulations draft text (20 March 2009 version) for developing countries include: various provisions that operate as necessity tests, and provisions that could limit countries right to regulate, for example, the pre-establishment criteria; and that countries’ regulatory measures should be ‘transparent’, ‘objective’ and ‘relevant’.

Specific examples used in this paper are drawn from various developing countries’ regulations in key service sectors including the financial sector; the education sector; the utilities sector; and with regard to land development.